Justin Green Mills
1st Lieutenant, U. S. Marine Corps
Silver Star
GENERAL ORDERS:
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant Justin G. Mills (MCSN: 0-11121), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands Area on November 3, 1942.
Commanding a platoon of Company C, First Battalion, Second Marines Reinforced, in an attack against heavy hostile resistance along the beach on the right side of the zone of action, Second Lieutenant Mills, when his platoon encountered vigorous opposition, courageously pushed forward in the face of machine gun, mortar and point-blank 37-mm.. gunfire.
Although his platoon suffered heavy casualties, he succeeded in capturing and holding his objective. His heroic devotion to duty, maintained at great risk in the face of grave danger, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Lieutenant Mills is a MIA from the battle of Tarawa, 20 November 1943.